Iranian Embassy Siege and More - Top 8 SAS Operations (We Know About) SHARE: Facebook Twitter The Special Air Service (SAS) was founded by Colonel David Stirling in 1941 as a regiment of the British Army. They were originally a commando force operating behind Axis lines to sabotage transportation and communications, as well as provide support for Allied troops. In 1951, they became a special unit for gathering intelligence, engaging in covert operations, combating terrorism, rescuing hostages, and other things that the government would probably never admit to. A secret organization, their existence became public knowledge in 1980 because of the Iranian Embassy. They were so impressive that other countries decided to set up their own versions of the SAS. The following are among their top eight known operations, to date. 1. Egyptian Air Field Raids: 1942 Taken on 18 January 1943, Colonel David Stirling greets a returning SAS jeep patrol Using American Bantam Jeeps, the SAS attacked five Axis-controlled airfields in Egypt from July 7 to 8, causing the most damage to the one at Bagush.

The most successful attacks happened from July 26 to 27, when they hit four more airstrips, including Sidi Haneish and Tamet. Using the new Lewes bomb (a hand-held explosive and incendiary) over 20 planes at Sidi Haneish were destroyed, with the SAS suffering only one casualty. None of the SAS died at Tamet, but they didn’t have enough bombs to destroy the last plane, so Lieutenant Robert Maynel destroyed the cockpit with his bare hands. Within 15 months, the SAS destroyed over 250 planes, prompting the Germans to call Stirling the Phantom Major. 2. Malayan Emergency: 1948 A 1950 photo of an Australian Avro Lincoln bomber dropping 500lb bombs on communist insurgents in the Malayan jungle To rebuild its shattered economy, Britain demanded more of its colonies, forcing many independence movements to become militant. With support from the Soviets, Malayan communist groups fought back. Britain’s response was to call in the army, but that wasn’t enough, so the SAS, disbanded after WWII, was reestablished.

Since much of the fighting took place in the jungles where tin mines and rubber plantations (Malaya’s main source of wealth) were located, small SAS squads were deployed there. Many befriended the locals so they could help engage in search and destroy missions against the insurgents. They also provided ground support for the Air Force which used Agent Orange (a defoliant) for the first time. Though the insurgency failed, Britain lost Malaya, anyway. 3. Assault on Jebel Akhdar: 1957 A Shackleton belonging to 224 Squadron flying in formation near Masirah during the Jebel Akhdar campaign Britain created an alliance with Oman in the 18th century, so when rebels took over three forts on Mt. Jebel Akhdar in 1957, Oman called for help. Since the British were supposed to be leaving Oman, they sent 64 SAS men instead. On January 26, every member of D Squadron walked up 7,000 feet of uphill terrain carrying some 119lbs of equipment, which caused some to faint from exhaustion.

A rebel sniper hit a grenade in one of the SAS men’s pack, killing two and injuring another. The forts of Saiq and Bani Habib were taken. But Jebel Akhdar took longer. After making feint operations against outlying positions on the north side of the Jebel Akhdar, they scaled the southern face of the Jebel at night, taking the rebels by surprise. Supplies were parachuted to them once they reached the plateau, which may have misled some of the rebels into thinking that this was an assault by paratroops. There was little further fighting. Talib and his fighters either melted back into the local population or fled to Saudi Arabia. Imam Ghalib went into exile in Saudi Arabia. Continues on Page 2 Special Air Service - History Learning Site Special Air Service Citation: C N Trueman "Special Air Service" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 25 May 2015. 16 Aug 2016. David Stirling founded the Special Air Service in 1941 .

The work done by the Special Air Service (SAS) during World War Two was to revolutionise the way wars could be fought and many other special forces were to copy their tactics. David Stirling had got a taste for unconventional warfare when he volunteered for 8 Commando, which was more commonly known as ‘Layforce’ after its commander, Captain Robert Laycock. The lack of enthusiasm for Special Forces was shown when Layforce reached North Africa for its first taste of action, only to find that it was effectively disbanded before it had been able to prove itself.The philosophy of the SAS was to throw out standard military tactics – in one sense, the regiment had no formal tactics and improvisation was at the heart of their success. Some of the higher echelons of the military were less than enthusiastic about what they called “private armies” and in its early stages, the SAS received little support from on high, especially from those senior officers who had been brought up in the traditional regiments of the British Army. Ironically, Stirling had joined one of these regiments at the start of the war – the Scots Guards.

Possibly angered by this treatment of Layforce, and to prove a point, Stirling set about setting up a unit that could fight behind enemy lines with the minimal of support but to devastating effect. Stirling believed that a small group of like-minded, highly trained and dedicated men could cause havoc to the Germans. He was joined in the venture by an Australian called Jock Lewes, an officer in the Welsh Guards. While in early training, Stirling was injured in a parachute jump. He spent two months in hospital. For this energetic man, it must have been a difficult time as he was by his own standards, inactive. However, Stirling’s hospital stay may well have saved the SAS. Because he could do little physical activity in hospital, Stirling dedicated his time to actual planning – something that he had not done a great deal of before hand. By the end of his hospital stay, Stirling had a very clear idea of what he wanted the regiment to be able to do and the qualities of the men who would fight in it. Using the unorthodox methods that are now associated with the SAS, Stirling did not go through the normal chain of command when putting forward his idea for the new regiment.

He managed to get to see the Deputy Commander Middle East, General Ritchie who presented Stirling’s plans to the British commander in North Africa, General Auchinlek. He authorised the use of the SAS almost immediately as he saw that potential it had in an environment like North Africa. The first unit of the SAS was made up of 66 men from Layforce and it included seven officers. Its official title was L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade. The title was an effort to confuse the Germans as to the size of the new unit – making it seem larger than it actually was. The very first mission of the SAS was in November, 1941 . The unit was to parachute behind the lines of the German Army in Gazala, North Africa, gather intelligence and harass the Germans where possible. The mission proved to be a failure. Stirling placed too much faith in the capabilities of the men in the unit and gave the go-ahead for them to make a parachute jump in weather than simply did not warrant the risk – high winds and strong rain. Of the 66 men on the mission, only 22 made it back.

This was the proof that some needed to prove that ‘private armies’ were a waste and an unnecessary drain on military resources. However, the failure of the mission only spurred on Stirling and Lewes and they learned a great deal from this first outing. Though the SAS was on a steep learning curve, what was learned from this failed mission, was an apt memorial for those who did not return from it. One of the most obvious lessons Stirling learned was that a parachute drop could be a disaster. Therefore, he turned his attention to his men getting to their objective overland. In this, the SAS joined forces with the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) who were experts in movement behind enemy lines. They would drop off SAS troops at a designated point and then collect them from another set point. Most travelling was at night – though not exclusively. The two units worked very well together, with a devastating impact on the Germans. The major targets for the SAS were German and Italian air bases. Jock Lewes had many qualities, and inventing things was one of them. The Lewes Bomb was a bomb that was small enough to be carried in quantity by an individual but had a big enough explosive charge to destroy a plane.

Weighing in at just one pound, the bomb could ignite the fuel in a plane, thus destroying it. The most successful plane ‘buster’ was Paddy Mayne, who destroyed dozens of planes. The Axis powers in North Africa lost many planes as a result of SAS activity. The actions of the regiment had another impact which is more difficult to quantify. No-one knew where they would attack next and all German forces were on a constant state of alert with the accompanying drain on resources that this entailed. The Germans were literally chasing shadows in the night. The success of the SAS in North Africa provoked Hitler to produce the order ( ‘Kommandodobefehl’ ) that stated that any commandos or special forces men that were captured should be shot and not afforded the protection of the Geneva Convention. The Germans did what they could to stop attacks by the SAS. In response, the regiment changed its approach. They acquired their own transport, which were heavily armed with machine guns and equipped with plenty of supplies. Now they could stay behind enemy lines for days on end and it made it even more difficult for the Germans to predict what they might do next.

When working with the LRDG , the SAS would walk to their target after being dropped off by the LRDG. Now, equipped with Jeeps, they drove onto an airbase in complete surprise and created havoc. The ensuing panic meant that the SAS received relatively light casualties themselves. However, the defeat of the Germans after the Battle of El Alamein , meant that the SAS now had to find a new role for itself after its work in the desert. The regiment turned its attention to Europe. In Western Europe, the SAS was in an entirely different terrain – one it had no experience of fighting in. However, the philosophy of the regiment stayed the same. In Western Europe, they set up bases behind enemy lines, gathered intelligence and, when possible, created havoc before slipping away. In France, four men units frequently worked with the Maquis, the French Resistance. Communication networks (rail lines, bridges etc) became favoured targets and intelligence gathering greatly assisted the D-Day landings in June 1944. Not everything ended in success though. Twenty four SAS men were captured by the Germans. They were tortured before being killed.

In the final days of the war, one of the main tasks of the SAS was to hunt the men who committed this atrocity along with SS and Gestapo thugs. Ironically, in the brave new post-war world, there did not seem to be a place for the SAS and it faded away only to be resurrected when its expertise was needed in the Far East against communist insurgents. The Special Air Service (SAS) Originals | Defense Media Network The Special Air Service (SAS) Originals Daring to Win By Gordon Stevens - November 21, 2012 A close-up of a heavily armed patrol of ‘L’ Detachment SAS in their Jeeps, just back from a three month patrol. The crews of the jeeps are all wearing ‘Arab-style’ headdress, as copied from the Long Range Desert Group, Jan. 18, 1943. Imperial War Museum photo Sharing Options: “… I have always felt uneasy in being known as the founder of the [SAS] Regiment. …” –Sir David Stirling, June 30, 1984 The Time: The night of Nov. 16-17, 1941.

The Place: The Western Desert of North Africa in World War II. The Force: 65 picked and trained men. The Mission: Parachute behind German lines and destroy enemy aircraft on airfields, which will threaten an Allied counteroffensive, code-named Operation Crusader , due to launch in just two days. The Facts: It’s their first mission. The unit, the Special Air Service (SAS), is revolutionary and brand new . Their leader, then-Capt. David Stirling, is considered by his own superiors to be a maverick. And to top it all off, the military bureaucracy of Middle East Headquarters (ME HQ) wants them to fail. Before the SAS can take off, a massive storm blows up and the 65 men are given the option of pulling out. They face a difficult dilemma: Cancel the drop and their own high command will kill off the unit before it has run its first mission. Or jump into the storm, and chances are that many of them won’t survive. They decide to go and jump. In the storm, the men are separated from their gear and explosives, and don’t even reach the targeted enemy airfields.

Of the 65, just 21 make it out, across the desert, to the rendezvous (RV) point for the trip back to their base camp. This should be the end of the story. In fact, it’s the beginning of the story of a modern military revolution: The birth of modern special operations forces. And to understand what happens next, it’s necessary to know what has gone before. Because the 21 men who jumped into that storm, and somehow survived to fight on, are the founding members of the British SAS. Within their small, insular community they are today known as “The Originals,” and this is their story. Foundations David Stirling, left, and Jock Lewes rest in the shade cast by a truck of the Long Range Desert Group, planning an operation in the desert behind the lines. Photo courtesy of Special Air Service Regimental Association History records that a young Scots Guards officer, David Stirling, founded the SAS in late 1941. Stirling was born into the Scottish aristocracy (his father was a general) in 1915. The indications from his early life weren’t promising. Stirling was sent down from Cambridge University for drinking and gambling.

He then spent two years in Paris studying art, then trained in the Alps and American Rockies as a mountain climber. His aim – to be first man to climb Mount Everest. When war with Germany broke out in 1939, Stirling joined the Scots Guards. In 1941, he went to the Middle East with “Layforce,” a commando force led by Robert Laycock. By late that year, Rommel’s Afrika Korps had driven the British back to the Egyptian border and were threatening the Suez Canal and Arabian oil fields. And in the eyes of aggressive young men like Stirling, the vast potential of British commando units to disrupt the Afrika Korps was being squandered by their own leaders. In a 1985 interview, Stirling remembered what it was like. “They didn’t want to risk having casualties and therefore unless the weather, or all the other requirements for any operation or undertaking, was absolutely right, they wouldn’t let us go,” he said. “So we were involved in a series of postponements and cancellations.” Nevertheless, the experience of commando operations was already sowing an idea in Stirling’s head.

“It got around thinking regarding how one could carry out the role at a hundredth of the cost,” he said. “In fact, it made it inevitable to come up with a proposition along the lines of SAS.” “Gentleman” Jim Almonds. Photo courtesy of Special Air Service Regimental Association The idea became a hard proposal as a result of a near-fatal parachute-training jump. Stirling’s chute caught on the tail of the aircraft and was torn open before he could cut loose. He landed badly. His legs were temporarily paralyzed and he was hospitalized. Stirling used the time to develop and write a paper on the proposal born from his own commando experience, which he referred to as “Hard Principles.” Others would refine them, but today they are the essence of modern SOF doctrine, what the military now calls unconventional warfare. As Stirling explained, “One entire commando, 600 men or so, probably couldn’t succeed in tackling more than perhaps two landing grounds on the same night, and more than three-quarters of the force would be taken up with defending those who were actually operating.

We preferred for every sub unit of four to five men to tackle a full target area on their own, and if they failed, it was more than compensated by the fact that with 60 men we could attack, theoretically, probably up to 20 targets on the same night.” Stirling’s targets would also be different. His new unit would be small and capable, operating deep behind the lines. Their missions, strategic in nature, would involve attacking key points such as enemy airfields, supply dumps, and ports – what Col. John Warden, (USAF, Ret.) would later refer to as “centers of gravity.” Politically astute, Stirling linked his proposal to create his new unit to an actual Allied plan: Operation Crusader, which would attempt to relieve the besieged port of Tobruk . His concept was that his new unit, broken into small teams, would parachute behind Axis lines and destroy enemy aircraft on their airfields to keep them from influencing the coming battle. Still in his hospital bed, Stirling even found a name for his revolutionary new unit: The Special Air Service.

Stirling recalled, “It came mainly from the fact that I was anxious to get full cooperation of a very ingenious individual called Dudley Clarke.” Clarke, one of the masters of World War II deception, had been conspicuously dropping dummy parachutists, mimicking training exercises, so that word would get back to Rommel that the Allies had a sizable parachute force. The name of his decoy force was the Special Air Service, which Stirling promptly appropriated, probably to confuse enemies on both sides. Sadly, Stirling already had an excess of opponents on the Allied side. Pat Riley. Photo courtesy of Special Air Service Regimental Association “There was an enormous residue of staff officers from the First World War who didn’t fight, who set the spirit of the administration,” he said. “And it was ludicrously swollen, unnecessarily big, and wholly obstructive to anything that would look like a new idea. There was no way you could put it in, except to the commander in chief. Never at ME HQ. They were layer upon layer of fossilized shit.” Stirling’s answer was to sell his idea directly to Gen. Neil Ritchie, deputy chief of British forces in the Middle East.

Still on crutches, he took a cab to ME HQ, jumped the perimeter fence, and amazingly, made it to Ritchie’s office and a meeting with the general. Incredibly, Ritchie agreed to read Stirling’s paper. “About halfway through, he really got quite engrossed in it and had forgotten the rather irregular way it had been presented,” Stirling recalled. “And when he’d finished the paper, he said: ‘This is something we can use, this paper looks [to have] real promise.’ … And that was the beginning of the SAS.” Immediately, Stirling was promoted to captain and authorized to raise a force of 65 officers and men. As might be imagined, the men Stirling recruited were as eclectic and unconventional as him. They included: Paddy Mayne. Photo courtesy of Special Air Service Regimental Association •Blair “Paddy” Mayne – An Irish and British Lions rugby international star player, he was in prison awaiting a court martial for knocking out his commanding officer when Stirling recruited him. •Pat Riley – An Irish-American, he had to deliberately make his background unclear on his papers to join the British army.

•“Gentleman” Jim Almonds – A former policeman, caught poaching while in training. •Johnny Cooper – Too young to join up, Cooper got in by bribing a recruiting sergeant. •Reg Seekings – “Fiddled” his name onto a special duties list for commando training without his commanding officer knowing. •Bob Bennett – A cheeky Cockney, always in trouble while in the Scots Guards for volunteering for hazardous duty assignments. •Dave Kershaw – A hardened socialist who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War, he still got on well with the aristocratic Stirling. With his men selected, Stirling set about forming them into a unit of action. This included running a competition to design the unit’s own badge and motto. The badge winner was what is now famous as the winged dagger. The front-runner for the SAS’s motto was initially, “Descend to Defend.” However, in a nod to his own unconventional persona, Stirling changed it to, “Who Dares Wins.” All this, of course, was unofficial. To make it acceptable to ME HQ, Stirling resorted to an old military custom – if a general saluted the badge, he authorized it. Bob Bennett.

Photo courtesy of Special Air Service Regimental Association “And that was done by tracking Gen. Auchinleck [the Middle East commander in chief] when he came down to do an inspection,” Stirling said. “I was standing at one side to him and, at the end of the demonstration that we laid on for him, as he was coming up to the salute, I turned to him and he saluted the badge, so that was it.” But Stirling’s battle with the ME HQ bureaucracy wasn’t over; supplies, training, and equipment were held up and threatened to exclude the SAS from Operation Crusader. Stirling’s reaction was simple. The infant SAS needed a base camp – so it stole one. The unit needed its members to receive parachute training – it organized its own. They also needed a special bomb to destroy aircraft, which would both ignite and explode, and was small enough that one man could carry up to 20 of the devices. The new unit’s de-facto second-in-command, Jock Lewes, created the solution. He created a 1-pound charge of C2 plastic explosive (Nobel 808), aluminum and thermite, and motor oil, ignited by a 30-second No.

10-time pencil wrapped in gun cotton: The Lewes bomb. The entire package was wrapped in a canvas pouch or ration sack, coated in grease, and then thrown into a cockpit or into a wing/fuselage joint. History of the SAS Regiment Resources ﻿History of the SAS Regiment The Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment’s history dates back to the early 1940s when David Stirling formed a special service unit that was named L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade. The foundation of this unit (its name was deliberately chosen to be misleading in order to make the Axis forces think that it is a paratrooper brigade in North Africa) on 1st July 1941 is considered the foundation date of the SAS Regiment although it was disbanded after the end of the war. The L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade that was commanded by Stirling was founded as a commando unit which would operate behind the German lines in North Africa. The first mission of the unit during the Operation Crusader in Egypt and Libya in the late 1941, however, was a failure and about one third of the unit was killed or captured by the Germans. But its second mission a few months later was a success.

Supported by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), the unit carried out a raid on Axis airfields in Libya during which they destroyed a large number of aircraft without losing a single man. In September 1942, the L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade was renamed as the 1st SAS Regiment which besides four British squadrons also consisted of the Special Boat Section (SBS) and one Greek and one Free French squadron. The unit continued to operate in North Africa but it also carried out several actions in Greece. In early 1943, the founder and commander of the unit, Stirling was captured by the Germans in Libya. He spent the rest of the war in German captivity and was replaced by Paddy Mayne as commander of the 1st SAS. The unit, however, was shortly thereafter reorganized into the Special Raiding Squadron under the command of Mayne and the Special Boat Squadron which was commanded by George Jellicoe. Mayne’s unit was used for operations in Sicily and Italy along with the 2nd SAS that was founded in North Africa in the same year, while the Special Boat Squadron was used for operations in Dodecanese and the Aegean Islands.

In 1944, the 1st and 2nd SAS, the Belgian 5th SAS and the French 3rd and 4th SAS were joined into the SAS Brigade which operated behind the enemy lines in France and conducted supportive operations during the Allied advance towards Germany. The SAS Brigade was disbanded shortly after the end of the Second World War. But less than one year after its disbandment, the British government determined that the country needs a commando unit such as the SAS Brigade and decided to raise a new SAS Regiment as a part of the Territorial Army. The new (21st) SAS Regiment was officially founded on 1 January 1947 and moved to the former Artists Rifles’s headquarters at Dukes Road, Euston. Soon, however, the need for Regular Army SAS regiment occurred. In 1952, the B Squadron, also known as the Malayan Scouts was renamed into the 22nd SAS Regiment and officially added to the British army list. In 1959, a third - 23rd SAS Regiment was created as a part of the Territorial Army.

British SAS Special Forces (Full Documentary) | Belfast Child British SAS Special Forces World’s Most Dangerous | SAS Special Forces – New Documentary(2015) ————————————————————————————————– The Special Air Service (SAS) is a unit of the British Army founded in 1941 as a regiment , and later reconstituted as a corps in 1950. [5] This special forces unit undertakes a number of roles including covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action, and human intelligence gathering. [8] [10] ———————————————————————————————— Royal British Special Forces – British SAS Documentary – HD Documentary ———————————————————————————————— The corps presently comprises 22 Special Air Service Regiment, the regular component, under the operational command of United Kingdom Special Forces , and 21 (Artists) Special Air Service Regiment and 23 Special Air Service Regiment , which are reserve units under the operational command of 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade .

[11] The Special Air Service traces its origins to 1941 and the Second World War, and was reformed as part of the Territorial Army in 1947, named the 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists Rifles). 22 Special Air Service Regiment, part of the regular army, later gained fame and recognition worldwide after successfully assaulting the Iranian Embassy in London and rescuing hostages during the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege , lifting the regiment from obscurity outside the military The Special Air Service (SAS) is a unit of the British Army founded in 1941 as a regiment , and later reconstituted as a corps in 1950. [5] This special forces unit undertakes a number of roles including covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action, and human intelligence gathering. [8] [10] The corps presently comprises 22 Special Air Service Regiment, the regular component, under the operational command of United Kingdom Special Forces , and 21 (Artists) Special Air Service Regiment and 23 Special Air Service Regiment , which are reserve units under the operational command of 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade .

[11] The Special Air Service traces its origins to 1941 and the Second World War, and was reformed as part of the Territorial Army in 1947, named the 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists Rifles). 22 Special Air Service Regiment, part of the regular army, later gained fame and recognition worldwide after successfully assaulting the Iranian Embassy in London and rescuing hostages during the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege , lifting the regiment from obscurity outside the military The Special Air Service (SAS) is a unit of the British Army founded in 1941 as a regiment , and later reconstituted as a corps in 1950. [5] This special forces unit undertakes a number of roles including covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action, and human intelligence gathering. [8] [10] The corps presently comprises 22 Special Air Service Regiment, the regular component, under the operational command of United Kingdom Special Forces , and 21 (Artists) Special Air Service Regiment and 23 Special Air Service Regiment , which are reserve units under the operational command of 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade .

[11] The Special Air Service traces its origins to 1941 and the Second World War, and was reformed as part of the Territorial Army in 1947, named the 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists Rifles). 22 Special Air Service Regiment, part of the regular army, later gained fame and recognition worldwide after successfully assaulting the Iranian Embassy in London and rescuing hostages during the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege , lifting the regiment from obscurity outside the military History Further information: History of the SAS , List of SAS operations and List of former SAS personnel The Special Air Service was a unit of the British Army during the Second World War , formed in July 1941 by David Stirling and originally called “L” Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade—the “L” designation and Air Service name being a tie-in to a British disinformation campaign, trying to deceive the Axis into thinking there was a paratrooper regiment with numerous units operating in the area (the real SAS would ‘prove’ to the Axis that the fake one existed).

[1] [13] It was conceived as a commando force to operate behind enemy lines in the North African Campaign [14] and initially consisted of five officers and 60 other ranks . [15] Its first mission, in November 1941, was a parachute drop in support of the Operation Crusader offensive. [13] Due to German resistance and adverse weather conditions, the mission was a disaster: 22 men, a third of the unit, were killed or captured. [16] Its second mission was a success: transported by the Long Range Desert Group , it attacked three airfields in Libya , destroying 60 aircraft without loss. [16] In September 1942 it was renamed 1st SAS, consisting at that time of four British squadrons, one Free French , one Greek , and the Folboat Section . [17] In January 1943, Stirling was captured in Tunisia and Paddy Mayne replaced him as commander.

[18] In April 1943, the 1st SAS was reorganised into the Special Raiding Squadron under Mayne’s command and the Special Boat Squadron was placed under the command of George Jellicoe . [19] The Special Raiding Squadron fought in Sicily and Italy along with the 2nd SAS, which had been formed in North Africa in 1943 in part by the renaming of the Small Scale Raiding Force . [20] [21] The Special Boat Squadron fought in the Aegean Islands and Dodecanese until the end of the war. [22] In 1944 the SAS Brigade was formed from the British 1st and 2nd SAS, the French 3rd and 4th SAS and the Belgian 5th SAS . [23] It was tasked with parachute operations behind the German lines in France [2] and carried out operations supporting the Allied advance through Belgium, the Netherlands ( Operation Pegasus ), and eventually into Germany ( Operation Archway ).

[23] [24] As a result of Hitler’s issuing of the Commando Order 18 October 1942, the members of the unit faced the additional danger that they would be summarily executed if ever captured by the Germans. In July 1944, following Operation Bulbasket , 34 captured SAS commandos were summarily executed by the Germans. In October 1944, in the aftermath of Operation Loyton 31 captured SAS commandos were summarily executed by the Germans. [25] Post war At the end of the war the British Government saw no further need for the force and disbanded it on 8 October 1945. [2] The following year it was decided there was a need for a long-term deep-penetration commando unit, and a new SAS regiment was to be raised as part of the Territorial Army. [26] Ultimately, the Artists Rifles , raised in 1860 and headquartered at Dukes Road, Euston, took on the SAS mantle as 21st SAS Regiment (V) on 1 January 1947.

[3] [26] 21 SAS soldier after a night parachute drop exercise in Denmark, 1955 In 1950, a 21 SAS squadron was raised to fight in the Korean War . After three months of training in England, it was informed that the squadron would no longer be required in Korea and so it instead volunteered to fight in the Malayan Emergency . [27] Upon arrival in Malaya, it came under the command of Mike Calvert who was forming a new unit called the Malayan Scouts (SAS). [27] Calvert had already formed one squadron from 100 volunteers in the Far East, which became A Squadron—the 21 SAS squadron then became B Squadron; and after a recruitment visit to Rhodesia by Calvert, C Squadron was formed from 1,000 Rhodesian volunteers. [28] The Rhodesians returned home after three years service and were replaced by a New Zealand squadron. [29] By this time, the need for a regular army SAS regiment had been recognised; 22 SAS Regiment was formally added to the army list in 1952 and has been based at Hereford since 1960.

[8] In 1959 the third regiment, 23 SAS Regiment, was formed by renaming the Reserve Reconnaissance Unit, which had succeeded MI9 and whose members were experts in escape and evasion . [30] 22 SAS Regiment Since serving in Malaya, men from the regular army 22 SAS Regiment have taken part in covert reconnaissance and surveillance by patrols and some larger scale raiding missions in Borneo . [31] An operation against communist guerillas included the Battle of Mirbat in the Oman . [32] They have also taken part in operations in the Aden Emergency , [33] Northern Ireland , [34] and Gambia . [31] Their Special projects team assisted the West German counter-terrorism group GSG 9 at Mogadishu . [31] The SAS counter terrorist wing famously took part in a hostage rescue operation during the Iranian Embassy Siege in London. [35] During the Falklands War B squadron were prepared for Operation Mikado before it was subsequently cancelled whilst D and G squadrons were deployed and participated in the raid on Pebble Island .

[36] Operation Flavius was a controversial operation in Gibraltar against the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). [31] 22 SAS also directed NATO aircraft onto Serb positions and hunted war criminals in Bosnia . [37] [38] They were also involved in the Kosovo War helping KLA guerillas behind Serbian lines. According to Albanian sources one SAS sergeant was killed by Serbian special forces. [39] The Gulf War , in which A, B and D squadrons deployed, was the largest SAS mobilisation since the Second World War, also notable for the failure of the Bravo Two Zero mission. [40] In Sierra Leone it took part in Operation Barras , a hostage rescue operation, to extract members of the Royal Irish Regiment . [31] In the Iraq War , it formed part of Task Force Black and Task Force Knight, with A Squadron 22 SAS being singled out for exceptional service by General Stanley McChrystal , the American commander of NATO forces: during a six-month tour it carried out 175 combat missions.

[41] In 2006, members of the SAS were involved in the operation to free peace activists Norman Kember , James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden . The three men had been held hostage in Iraq for 118 days during the Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis . [42] Operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan [43] involved soldiers from 21 and 23 SAS Regiments. [4] Various British newspapers have speculated on the SAS involvement in Operation Ellamy and the 2011 Libyan civil war , the Daily Telegraph reports that “defence sources have confirmed that the SAS has been in Libya for several weeks, and played a key role in coordinating the fall of Tripoli.” [44] While The Guardian reports “They have been acting as forward air controllers – directing pilots to targets – and communicating with NATO operational commanders.

They have also been advising rebels on tactics.” [45] A significant force of the Special Air Service was deployed to Northern Iraq in late August 2014, and according to former MI6 chief Richard Barrett will be sent to Syria, tasked with trying to track down the Islamic State terrorist group that the press labeled the Beatles using a range of high-tech equipment and with potentially freeing their hostages. [46] [47] [48] [49] In October 2014, the SAS began executing raids against ISIS supply lines in western Iraq, using helicopters to drop light vehicles manned by sniper squads. It has been claimed that the SAS have killed up to eight ISIS fighters per day since the raids began. [50] In recent years SAS officers have risen to the highest ranks in the British Army. General Peter de la Billière was the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in the 1990 Gulf War. [51] General Michael Rose became commander of the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia in 1994. [52] In 1997 General Charles Guthrie became Chief of the Defence Staff the head of the British Armed Forces.

[53] Lieutenant-General Cedric Delves was appointed Commander of the Field Army and Deputy Commander in Chief NATO Regional Headquarters Allied Forces North in 2002–2003. [54] Influence on other special forces Following the post-war reconstitution of the Special Air Service, other countries in the Commonwealth recognised their need for similar units. The Canadian Special Air Service Company was formed in 1947, being disbanded in 1949. [55] [56] The New Zealand Special Air Service squadron was formed in 1954 to serve with the British SAS in Malaya. [29] Australia formed the 1st SAS Company in July 1957, which became a full regiment of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) in August 1964. [57] On its return from Malaya, the C (Rhodesian) Squadron formed the basis for creation of the Rhodesian Special Air Service in 1961.

[30] It retained the name “C Squadron (Rhodesian) Special Air Service” within the Rhodesian Security Forces until 1978, when it became 1 (Rhodesian) Special Air Service Regiment. [58] Non-Commonwealth countries have also formed units based on the SAS. The Belgian Army’s Special Forces Group , which wears the same capbadge as the British SAS, traces its ancestry partly from the 5th Special Air Service of the Second World War. [59] [60] [61] [62] [63] [64] [65] The French 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment (1er RPIMa) can trace its origins to the Second World War 3rd and 4th SAS, adopting its “who dares wins” motto. [66] The American unit, Delta Force , was formed by Colonel Charles Alvin Beckwith , who served with 22 SAS as an exchange officer , and recognised the need for a similar type of unit in the United States Army . [67] The Israeli Sayeret Matkal has also been modelled after the SAS, sharing its motto.

Ireland ‘s Army Ranger Wing (ARW) has also modelled its training on that of the SAS, as well as Delta Force (who in turn have been influenced by the SAS). The Irish ARW train with the SAS. [68] The Philippine National Police ‘s Special Action Force , heavily engaged in counter-insurgency in the Mindinao region, was formed along the lines of the SAS. [69] if you have enjoyed reading my story and daily blogs please consider making a small donation Share this: SAS founder was a Nazi sympathiser | UK news | The Guardian SAS founder was a Nazi sympathiser New book reveals how a great patriotic hero was seduced by pre-war Germany Share on Messenger Close He was one of Britain's bravest wartime heroes and co-founded the lethally effective SAS. Without Lieutenant Jock Lewes, history would have been very different. But shocking revelations in a new book could change for ever the way he is remembered.

The discovery of more than 450 letters, written by Lewes to his parents between 1924 and 1941 and left forgotten in a garage for more than half a century, has revealed that Lewes visited Berlin regularly in the years leading up to the Second World War and developed strong sympathies with the National Socialists. The letters, which are contemptuous of British politicians, reveal that Lewes almost married a member of the Nazi party and was vehemently opposed to Britain's pre-war antipathy to Germany, arguing that the British should have backed Germany in the First World War. The content of the letters is so at odds with Lewes's patriotic wartime persona that some military historians have suggested his early behaviour may have been a front and that Lewes may have been a government agent. Other experts have speculated that his pro-Nazi past explains why Lewes, unlike David Stirling, commanding officer of the early SAS, was never properly feted for his contributions to the war effort, despite Stirling's admission that 'Jock Lewes could far more genuinely claim to be the founder of the SAS than I'.

John Lewes, the soldier's nephew and author of Jock Lewes, Co-founder of the SAS, to be published this week, discovered the letters in his aunt's outhouse. 'The revelations in those letters came as a complete surprise,' he said. 'Jock's pro-Nazi and anti-British convictions were so firmly held and passionately expressed that at one point I was concerned my uncle had been an out-and-out Nazi.' Lewes first visited Germany in the summer of 1935, on a cycling trip. He was 22, dissatisfied with his studies at Oxford and having doubts about his planned military career. He was impressed by German students and their arguments against the Versailles Treaty, and wrote to his parents detailing the restrictions it placed on the lives of his new friends. 'England is no democracy and Germany far from being a totalitarian state,' he wrote. His nephew said: 'Jock very quickly began to despair of Britain and France's attitude towards Germany. He disagreed with the democratic powers that enabled them to openly criticise the Nazis whom he saw working to improve the lives of his friends.' When Lewes returned to England two months later, he brought with him a Hitler Youth knife.

The following year he organised a visit with his rowing fraternity to the Berlin Olympic Games. He wrote letters home singing the praises of Germany and refused to back his rowing group's anti-Nazi activities. 'My uncle fell for the grandeur, the permanency and respectability of the new regime and failed to notice or criticise the encroaching anti-Semitic tendencies of the era,' said his nephew. 'Jock was absolutely besotted by his Nazi girlfriend and was flirting with the Socialist way. He was aware that there was propaganda around intended to dazzle him but he was seriously taken with the ideas of the Nazi party too.' In 1938 Jock Lewes attended a ball attended by Hitler and Goebbels. 'My uncle shook hands with Nazis who almost certainly had blood under their fingernails, and he did so before the blood was dry,' said his nephew. He wrote to his parents that England had 'backed the wrong horse in the First World War' and criticised England's politicians, calling them 'braying parliamentarians'. His loyalty to Germany continued until November 1938, when Kristallnacht forced him to realise the real objectives of the Nazi party.

'I have been struggling to believe or rather retain my belief in German sincerity but only a fanatic faith could withstand the evidence they choose of their own free will to put before us,' he wrote to his parents. 'I have great faith in Britain and I swear I will not live to see the day when Britain hauls down the colours of her beliefs before totalitarian aggression.' Lewes's disillusionment with Germany turned to bitterness. He broke off all contact with his fiancée. 'I shall willingly take up arms against Germany, almost gladly,' he wrote. In 1940, Jock travelled to the Middle East and, along with Stirling, Paddy Mayne and Georges Bergé, founded the SAS. He died in Libya at the end of 1941 following a daring operation. Former SAS sergeant and author Andy McNab admitted he had never heard about Lewes's flirtation with Nazi Germany. 'This is going to be a bit of a shock for a lot of people,' he said.

Links The Rogue British Officer Who Broke All the Rules Founded the SAS and was Nicknamed by the Germans, “The Phantom Major” STORE The Rogue British Officer Who Broke All the Rules Founded the SAS and was Nicknamed by the Germans, “The Phantom Major” SHARE: Facebook Twitter If there wasn’t a global war for survival taking place, Major David Stirling is the type of British Officer who would have been thrown out of the British military establishment if not court martialed. As fate would have it, this rogue British Officer with a taste for action and an abhorrence for any rules that prevented it would found the famed British SAS and leave a legacy for one of the greatest clandestine fighting forces to enter harm’s way. Never mind that he broke into British Middle East Headquarters and ambushed a General with his plans for the SAS to gain approval, forget the fact that he raised the original SAS crew from a band of misfits and disciplinary problematic soldiers, and lets not mention the fact that he stole half of the gear he needed from fellow Allied units. As the famed military saying would say, gear adrift is a gift, and Major David Stirling was simply one who knew how to open a gift.

Without him, there would be no SAS, but thanks to him, enemies of Great Britain have every reason to sleep with one eye open. A Career Almost Over Before it Began David Stirling was born in 1915 to an aristocratic family in Scotland. Stirling would display early on a heart for adventure and a joy for breaking the rules. While in college, he was dismissed for gambling and drinking before deciding that his life’s calling was to train to climb Mount Everest. During his training for the climb, World War II broke out and David Stirling decided to join the Scots Guard in 1939. However, this career almost ended early when after a late night out he fell asleep in an officer’s class and was almost thrown out of the military by the instructor. But he would have a fateful rendezvous with this instructor later in the war that would prove remarkably instrumental in creating the British SAS. The SAS in North Africa via commons.wikimedia.org In 1940, he volunteered for the No. 8 Commando unit and was deployed to North Africa.

But almost as quickly as he arrived, the commando unit was disbanded in August 1941 as many felt the tactics of the unit provided too little of a return at too high of a cost. But Stirling thought otherwise and for a man who viewed rules and military discipline as more of suggestions, he would take it upon himself to create the force to help win the war in the most spectacular manner possible. To say that the British military bureaucracy in 1941 was rigid is an understatement. Stirling knew that the junior class of officers who valued form rather than merit would never approve his idea. As a result, as only a man of his character would do, he broke into the British Middle East headquarters to pitch his plan directly to the high command. When the guards discovered him sneaking in, they gave chase and as a result, he entered the first office he came upon. Unfortunately, the man that occupied that office was none other than the instructor who previously tried to throw him out of the military. The instructor screamed for the guards and in a hurry, Stirling entered the next office he came upon which just so happened to be the deputy commander of the Middle East, General Richie. Continues on Page 2

Question: Who founded the SAS in 1941?
Answer: DAVID STIRLING